Valve announces SteamVR Tracking 2.0

Valve announces SteamVR Tracking 2.0

Valve announces SteamVR Tracking 2.0

Over time Valve has been continually working on improving their VR technology, not only by implementing new features like Asynchronous Space Warp on the software side by also be improving their technology on the hardware side.

Since the HTC Vive's official release, the company has been able to reduce the mass of the headset by 15%, which has made new SteamVR headsets significantly easier to wear. Modern HTC Vive headsets are also easier to produce thanks to improved tracking technologies through

Modern HTC Vive headsets are also easier to produce thanks to improved tracking technologies through the use of Triad Semiconductor's new TS3633 sensor ASIC, which has significantly reduced the component count of Valve's StreamVR tracking system. Valve has announced a new version of their tracking sensor silicon which will again reduce the system's component count and add new features

Valve has announced a new version of their tracking sensor silicon, the Triad Semiconductor TS4231, which will again reduce the system's component count and add new features. This new ASIC uses five components per sensor, instead of the 11 used with the TS3633, making it cheaper to place each sensor on both headsets and VR tracked accessories.

The TS4231 also adds a new feature called "Sync on Beam", which allows information to be transmitted using each base station tracking laser, allowing the ASIC to use and differentiate between the signals from more than VR tracking two base stations. This will also allow "Sync on Beam" base station to be produced with much lower prices than previous generation models.

This new capability to encode information in the laser is significant for two reasons:

- It allows support for more than two base stations, and thus larger tracking volumes.

- It allows a base station to function without including a sync blinker, which is the source of most of the interference between base stations (and is also a significant driver of base station cost.) We call this technology sync-on-beam.

(Steam tracking 2.0 VS 1.0)

With this new technology comes Steam Tracking 2.0, which is not compatible with older SteamVR 1.0 devices though SteamVR Tracking 1.0 base stations will work with Steam Tracking 2.0 devices.

Steam Tracking 2.0 base stations will come with much lower pricing than older base station 1.0 models, with Valve planning to be production ready with this new technology in November 2017. At this time it is unknown when these new hardware changes will reduce the price of consumer VR, though it is not expected to be until Q4 2017 or 2018.

The main features of 2.0 are:

- Support for more than two base stations

- Base stations that are smaller, quieter, lower power, more reliable, and less expensive than their 1.0 counterparts

- Better performance by reducing the number of moving parts and sources of manufacturing variation.

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